Fruit Mince Pies - third go

Third try at fruit mince pies, and I think this is significantly better! We made a whole heap of the little veggie pastie sort of shapes, and the pastry is still fragile, but workable. the finished product is very tasty! And we still have two and a half jars left... so lots more room for experimentation, or for finding the right baking tray!

Great Mountain of Snow

I'm sure there is a method to ploughing snow, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve making a pile so large that there is still a pile more than a week after the last snow...

Teapot!

With some of my birthday money, I bought this teapot. It is the same as the white one I have at home, only RED! It has taken me this long to get confident with oz enough to be able to picture the size of the teapot (and therefore buy one over the internet). It is well worth the wait. The mat from mum may get more use now!

Note to self

When fixing pants, don't try to be smart and put a dark coloured bobbin vs the correct coloured thread... Especially when the tension isn't right, so half of the stitch with the dark coloured thread shows through!

Wassail

It occurred to me that I hadn't looked up Wassail, so I set out to do so, and got overwhelmed in the world of Wiki, never a good place to be really, keeping in mind at the end that wiki is not always accurate in information...
But it appears there is wassailing - some sort of ceremony of wishing good health to an apple tree with mulled cider, to ensure good harvest (and therefore more cider!), done at old twelth night - 17th Jan.
There is also caroling wassailing - singing Christmas Carols in exchange for treats/presumably including something to drink, which used to be done as a gift exchange between the wealthy and the poor as a non-begging charitable gift giving exercise.
Wassail the drink, mulled cider, appears to accompany orchard wassailing, which apparently still occurs in big apple growing areas in Britain today!
The wassail I had when we went caroling was based on cranberries, and must be a local (Ocean Spray...) adaptation.

Making coffee

I don't drink coffee, but I have enjoyed learning the new skill of putting on some drip coffee in my part of the office. I get in at 8am, usually about 30 mins before most other people, so the coffee is just ready when they get in! It is remarkably simple really, very much like putting tea in a teapot.
The way people go on about coffee, I thought it would be something complicated, but probably the difference comes in the beans - how they're roasted and ground, rather than how I spoon the grounds into the filter. I'm thinking this is a transferable skill into French Press (or plunger) coffee, for when I get back to mother's group!
Drip coffee is very work friendly - no standing around, distracting people who sit near the kitchen while your coffee gets fluffed, or worse, heading out of the office for half an hour to the favourite barista. Just quietly get up, pull out the jug, and refil cup (and therefore environmentally friendly too!). I think Australian employers should consider it.
At the right of the photo is the powdered 'milk' they put in things here - it is dairy and gluten free... you can get it with caramel or vanilla or seasonal flavourings (read, spices). When simple milk won't do!

Different Apple Cider!

In what must be fascinating news for the teetotalers out there, I found two more varieties of Angry Orchard Cider... A seasonal variety with cinnamon added, which was closer to non alcoholic, non sparkling apple cider, and the 'crisp apple' variety, both of which are lovely.